Feb 23 Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA is in talks with international banks over refinancing the company's debt, according to its president, as the OPEC member country grapples with major bond payments amid an oil price rout.

"We're in the middle of this," Eulogio Del Pino told Reuters about potential debt refinancing as he entered the country's National Assembly on Tuesday.

When asked who PDVSA was talking to, he said "with international banks, and it's something that is part of the negotiations process."

Further details were not immediately available.

Del Pino told local media in November that PDVSA was mulling a proposal to extend the payment for bonds that mature in 2016 and 2017 to 2018 and 2019, when the company has a lighter payment load.

He told Reuters last month that the company is still mulling a potential bond refinancing.

Venezuela faces some $10 billion in debt payments this year amid a tumble in oil prices and a brutal recession at home, leading to market speculation about the country's ability to pay debt.

Government officials have dismissed market default speculation as a right-wing smear campaign. President Nicolas Maduro has noted that the country last year covered roughly $10.5 billion debt payments, even reducing imports in the scarcity-hit country.

Venezuelan bonds were trading down on Tuesday afternoon, in tandem with lower oil prices. (Writing by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)